For students stumbling back to campus from Binghamton’s State Street bars, vomiting in a taxi might be costing more than just dignity, as cab drivers have instituted high fees for those who create the mess.
Although students may have paid the fee — usually around $50 — to avoid police involvement, Investigator Matt Rossie, of Binghamton’s New York State University Police, said that refusing to honor the fee is not a crime, and police will not force students to pay.
“The entire issue of the vomit fee is a civil matter, and we won’t address that,” Rossie said.
According to Carl P., a dispatcher from Checker Car Services in Binghamton who refused to give his last name, drivers will often take students who don’t pay the fee to small claims court. Binghamton City Court charges $15 for a small claims application for suits up to $1000.
For some drivers, however, police involvement is more of a threat than a reality. Orlando Rivera, an independent cab driver in Binghamton known as Peter Rabbit, said “students are afraid not to pay because many of them are under 21.”
Rabbit said that he could call police and press charges for “theft of cleaning services.”
However, Investigator Dennis Bush from University Police said that students could not be charged simply for being drunk in a cab, even if they are underage.
The only thing students could be charged with is disorderly conduct, “and that would be brought on themselves,” Bush said. Disorderly conduct would only be charged if those students were acting out in front of authorities and making the officers’ jobs difficult, he said.
Taxi drivers, however, point out that the fee is necessary. “We try to enforce [the fee] because it’s a self-inflicting condition, and our driver loses an hour of service,” P. said.
P. said that during that hour, the driver disinfects the cab with Lysol and then sprays it down by hand. With weekends being the busiest time of the week, P. said that the fee makes the student and driver “about even.”
On the rare occasion that a student might use a limousine service, he or she could be paying even more. Uptown Limousine Service in Binghamton has charged as much as $700 for limousine cleanup, according to company president Robert Palencar.
Palencar cited a Dec. 8, 2005 incident where one intoxicated Binghamton University student using his service to go to a sorority party vomited in the limo, for which he charged $250. Unlike a regular cab cleanup, Palencar said that, for his higher quality service, he replaces the entire vomit-soaked carpet. However, Palencar did say that people who damage his vehicles are “more than willing” to pay.
Rossie said he was skeptical about the cleanup charge in general. “There is no one who actually checks to see that the money is being used correctly,” he said.